Yesterday was a very nice day out in the field – the weather was fine and sunny and the light good to have clear sightings. I atlased two pentads – the one just to the north of my home pentad, and later in the morning the one just to the south of my home pentad. The surveys were return visits to both the pentads and each has been covered for a third time.
3035_2640 is the pentad just to the north of the town of Aliwal North. Despite the fact that it is winter at the moment, I've added 10 new species to the tally of species already observed in the pentad in the previous surveys. The Hamerkop nest (reports in earlier posts) is one of the features of this pentad – and yesterday I observed the pair of birds on a boulder just above the new nest. Interestingly two Hadeda Ibises were sharing the same boulder with the Hamerkops– the birds sunning themselves in the early morning. Among the new additions was a Malachite Kingfisher (Alcedo cristata). 
We could watch it for quite a long time where it was actively hunting for water insects from it’s perch at a farm dam. The first hour of the survey added 36 species, in the second another 9 was added and the third only added 4 new species to the survey list. A single Greater Kestrel and three Black-shouldered Kites hunting together over a stretch of grassveld were the only raptors seen.
The second pentad for the day was 3045_2640 – just to the south of town. The first tick was a pair of Anteating Chats on the fence – they are quite abundant in our area. The second sighting of the survey was a Lanner Falcon (Falco biarmicus) which is quite rare in our region.
Unfortunately it only gave me a few seconds to take a picture before it flew off. It nevertheless was a great sighting. The tally for the pentad grew from 63 to 75 unique species – again despite the fact that is winter and activity amongst birds are generally lower in winter. I counted 45 species in total in the 2 hours of surveying the pentad. Except for the Lanner Falcon, I saw a Southern Pale Chanting Goshawk on two separate occasions and a single Black-headed Heron (the only one for the day).
We could watch it for quite a long time where it was actively hunting for water insects from it’s perch at a farm dam. The first hour of the survey added 36 species, in the second another 9 was added and the third only added 4 new species to the survey list. A single Greater Kestrel and three Black-shouldered Kites hunting together over a stretch of grassveld were the only raptors seen. The second pentad for the day was 3045_2640 – just to the south of town. The first tick was a pair of Anteating Chats on the fence – they are quite abundant in our area. The second sighting of the survey was a Lanner Falcon (Falco biarmicus) which is quite rare in our region.
Unfortunately it only gave me a few seconds to take a picture before it flew off. It nevertheless was a great sighting. The tally for the pentad grew from 63 to 75 unique species – again despite the fact that is winter and activity amongst birds are generally lower in winter. I counted 45 species in total in the 2 hours of surveying the pentad. Except for the Lanner Falcon, I saw a Southern Pale Chanting Goshawk on two separate occasions and a single Black-headed Heron (the only one for the day).
1 comment:
Sounds great Arnold. I am enjoying the atlassing very much as well. My electronic submission software has just packed up completely though!! Michael is battling to fix it so I am keeping my records till I can submit them all. Your idea of the magnetic sticker is brilliant! I will have to have one made immediately.
Tony Archer, Klerksdorp.
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